Looking Inside The Black Box Society

US PIRG Education Fund & Center for Digital Democracy
Monday, May 11, 2015
9AM-12 PM Noon
https://www.democraticmedia.org/article/seminar-live-webcast-monday-may-...

The event is free and open to the public but requires an RSVP (http://bit.ly/1FAvSBj). Livestream will be available. Please RSVP for “Livestream only” option.

Agenda

9:00-9:30 AM Registration and Coffee

9:30-10:00 AM Keynote Address and Commentary by Professor Frank Pasquale, author, “The Black Box Society” (Harvard University Press 2015)

10:00-11:00 AM Panel 1: Empowering Citizens and Consumers in the Digitally Data-Driven Financial Services Era: What new policies and practices are required to protect economically vulnerable consumers?
Professor Pasquale will be joined by advocates for a discussion of the impact of the Black Box on economic opportunity and possible reform policies.

  • Sarah Ludwig, co-director, New Economy Project-NYC (formerly NEDAP). Sarah was a leader in the recent campaign to win a ban on the use of credit reports for employment purposes at the NY City Council. (confirmed).
  • Alexis Goldstein, former Wall Street technology executive and Communications Director for Other98.com. (confirmed).

11:00-12 Noon: Panel 2: What do policymakers need to do to “open” up and make accountable the “Black Box?”

  • Jessica Rich, Director, FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection (confirmed). The FTC BCP has issued recent reports on privacy and data brokers, has held a series of its own workshops on privacy, data and potential discrimination and has conducted enforcement actions against firms using digital data tools without complying with applicable consumer protection laws.
  • Corey Stone, CFPB Assistant Director for Office of Deposits, Cash, Collections, and Reporting Markets (invited). The CFPB has issued reports (latest, May 2015) on the credit reporting industry and, under authority granted by Congress, since fall 2012 has supervised (examined) the activities of larger participants in credit reporting markets (essentially, examination authority gives CFPB the right to look inside the black box).